Caffé Demetré

Caffé Demetré (100 York Boulevard, Richmond Hill, Ontario)
905-881-8406

Caffé Demetré can get pretty crowded at times, and sometimes you can be forced to sit near the entrance like we were. This isn't a huge problem unless it's cold outside. All the cold air prompted me to order a hot drink.

Service was friendly, even if I wasn't particularly polite when I ordered without looking at the server. (I had an iPhone in my hand, and I didn't know how to pause the game so I blindly motioned toward some general area of the menu as I ordered.)

Some chocolatey coffee drink.

It was chocolatey coffee. The chocolate chunks on top were a bit less than I was expecting. The drink tasted okay.

Total damage: $5-ish.

Turtle Jack's

Turtle Jack's (10 Vogell Road, Richmond Hill, Ontario)
Tel: 905-770-1729
Sun - Wed: 11am- 12am
Thurs - Sat: 11am- 2am

We kept seeing the Turtle Jack's sign when we went to eat at Cora's in the same plaza. Why not try something new?

First thing I noted was that the wait staff seemed really attentive. The restaurant was somewhat empty, so I guess it was easy for our server to come by to check on us several times.

I also noticed that the lights dimmed and undimmed randomly. It was kind of weird.

There are two pictures of food and one picture of random kid leaning over water on the menu.

Josie's mojito and my top shelf margarita ($5.99).

I was thankful that my drink wasn't sobering like the Kelsey's drink that I've recently had to experience. Turns out the 1.5 oz in my Turtle Jack's drink was properly measured. *claps*

Josie and Casey's nachos.

Tortillas are crisp, and the salsa and guacamole taste good. I'm usually pretty skeptical about ordering nachos, but these weren't half bad.

My bison meatloaf with onion crisps.

I ate half my meatloaf before I realized there were vegetables on my plate. The meatloaf is soft and meaty, but not gamey. The fried onion bits were great, as was the dish in general.

Josie's burger.

The meat on Josie's burger tasted more like steak meat than it did burger, if that makes any sense at all.

Deep-fried cheesecake.

It was sitting in berry sauce, so I didn't touch it, but the other seemed to like it.

Would I go back? Sure! I'd go back with my full appetite, though.

Total damage: $32.79 for my drink and bison meatloaf.

Random Food Post!

Cheesecake Factory


I can't remember which location this is, but I like Cheesecake Factory food in general. Most of the time, it's pretty good.

Some of the cheesecakes are better than others. It helps to have tried a few to know what to pick.

This smiley face formed by itself during a lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Having mealtime is always happy.

Suite 88 (3957, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal)

I bought a set of these chocolate shooters and took pictures of the ones on display so I could remember what were in them.

Fun if you like alcohol and chocolate!

A guy makes fresh noodles at the Pacific Mall upstairs food court. It's quite a show and pretty loud when he bangs the noodles on the metal surface. Also, the noodles are pretty tasty. 

Joons

Joons (4852 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)
(416) 840-0589

Kimchi fried rice.

Went to Joons on a weekday for lunch. The food came out pretty fast, and it was spicy. The egg yolk was runny as it should be, and I was quite satisfied. The portion is massive and the price is cheap. My meal could have fed two regular, non-beastly people.

Would I go back? Sure.

Total damage: $8.

St. Louis Bar and Grill

St. Louis Wings and Ribs (Fairview Mall, 1800 Sheppard Avenue East, Toronto)
Phone: 416-637-WING

Nine wings. Cajun dust.

The wings weren't dry, but the cajun dust flavour was a bit bland. Andrew said my wings didn't look very appealing. What I like most about St. Louis Wings are the fries and the garlic dill sauce. I think the sauce is actually for the chicken, but I like it better with the rippled, fat fries.

Would I go back? Yes. For fries. And dill sauce.

Total damage: Can't remember... $10-$15-ish?

Golden Court

Golden Court Abalone Restaurant (270 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill)

(905) 707-6628

This was another visit to Golden Court for some weekend dim sum. This place is about the size of half of a regular Loblaws, and it was packed.

They actually had the steamed beef balls this time.

The steamed shrimp and vegetable dumplings were cute. The shrimp rice noodle rolls were pretty standard.

Deep-fried black sesame filled sesame balls

Jo didn't like how the outer layer was so thick. As a result, she started scooping the insides out.

Would I go back? Sure, why not. It's one of the bigger dim sum places available in the area (and not as expensive as Regal Palace).

Total damage? I really can't remember. These were taken summer last year.

Domdechant Werner

Domdechant Werner 2007 Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Kabinett

I have no idea what I just typed, but I might have just made English spell check go nuts.

Berta let me try some of this wine at her place last time I was there.

It's sweet, and I thought it was quite nice. I'm no wine connoisseur, but I think those who prefer sweet rieslings would like this.

Thanks to Berta for introducing me to new wine!

Big Mouth Kee

Big Mouth Kee (280 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill)
905-881-8821

I really can't get over how cute their logo is.

Jo discovered cheap lunch specials at Big Mouth Kee and decided to take me there to partake in the affordability. 

Many Chinese restaurants of this type will offer meals that come with a drink. It's usually extra for a cold drink. Here, the meal doesn't come with a drink, but it's $0.50 for any drink extra. 

Cold milk tea.

I like how the flavour of the milk tea isn't lost in the ice or too watered down. I also like the crushed ice as opposed to large cubes. I only wish that the straw were fatter so that I could sip it up like a slushy. 

Not sure if these meals are meant for one person, but me and Jo could share this plate of beef with crunchy noodles.

The beef is good, not overcooked. The noodles are crunchy as they should be. 

Service is fast if you know how to flag people down, Chinese style.

Total damage for one meal (drink included) + extra cold drink ($1): $6.77 + tip. 

Would I go back again? Well, I did. :p

Again, I got the cold milk tea. 

Me and Jo split a fried rice with beef plate.

It's a bit oily (pretty shiny), but it tasted good. I did bite into a chunk of salty that tasted like the Chinese salty fish stuff.

The damage was exactly the same as the previous visit.

Dri's final thoughts: I'd go back. Who doesn't like a meal for the price of one that can feed two people and a small take-out box? If you think about it, it's cheaper than fast food.

Nadège

Nadège (780 Queen Street West, Toronto)
416-368-2009
info@nadege-patisserie.com

Walking on Queen West, this patisserie caught my eye and I stopped long enough to get sucked into the store.

It seemed pretty busy with people coming in before and after us. There is seating available, but we decided to take ours to go since we just ate a hearty brunch at Swan.

Berta really liked the boxes. I was afraid that my delicate desserts would be rolling around in them.

I was partially right.

A piece from one of the fine creations rolled around in that box like a golf ball after a woman knocked my precious cargo while walking past me on the street. It would have been much worse had the Nadège staff not taped the bottoms of the cardboard pieces under the desserts to the box. That's good thinking on their part, but I guess it doesn't protect against careless Queen Street pedestrians (my careless self included). 

Berta's purchase: blood orange tart.

Out of the boxed items, Berta and I both liked the blood orange tart the best. It was really fruity, and the flavours just all went really well. It was nice, light, and tasted like summer in confectionary form. Berta only wished that the crust wasn't so hard.

Attempts at restoration.

I really liked the textures within the balls. It reminded me of upscale Ferrero Rocher.

I think this dome-shaped thing was called Emperor or something like that. 

Pretty

I like layers. The coffee flavour cuts the sweetness of the chocolate and the sweet filling cuts the bitterness of the coffee. It's best to try to get some of every layer in each forkful. 

Pistachio and banana?

The pastry part is unobtrusive and the filling is not too strong. I like.

Almond.

This thing was kind of awesome. Icing sugar, almonds, flaky pastry = win. That was supremely not descriptive, but that's all I can remember. Awesomeness.

Would I go back? Not the cheapest of their kind, but definitely tasty. So, that's a definitive yes! More almond!

Total damage: $22.76 for two pastries and two petits fours (or whatever you want to call them).

Chips

Randomly, Loblaws will have their President's Choice brand chips on sale. And that's when my weakness forces me to purchase a bag or two. That is, if the pantry hasn't already been stocked by someone else.

Barbecue Baby Back Ribs.

These are Sheila's PC chip flavour of choice. I found that they tasted like a variation of a generic all dressed seasoning, but saltier. Do they taste like baby back ribs? If I think about it really hard... maybe? I think they taste saltier than any sauce that'd be on the actual meat. 

Loaded Baked Potato.

They taste like all dressed and sour cream chips mixed together. The fact that they are thicker than regular chips makes them taste more like potato.

I find that the chips from this line have more crunch than regular Ruffles. They also seem to taste less oily than other chip brands.

The resealable bag is great! Makes it look like I didn't find and open a bag of chips in the pantry.

So Great Thai

So Great Thai (5195 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)
416-512-9111

The hot and sour soup came with the lunch special. 

I didn't get much hot out of it, but it tasted nice. It was sour, but not in a way that would contort my face.

I believe I got red beef curry. 

The lunch special also comes with a spring roll. I can't remember much from this meal, but the curry had a nice smoothness to it. It wasn't very spicy. Esther mentioned that the other Thai place on Yonge Street had better curry. 

Total damage: Uh... I can't remember, but definitely less than $15.